'BEYOND WORDS: WHAT ANIMALS THINK AND FEEL' by Carl Safina, Picador, 496 pages, $18
Piecing together decades of field observations with revolutionary discoveries about the brain, Safina sets out to dissolves the behavioral differences between animals and humans. From an elephant family in Kenya struggling to survive poaching and drought, to a pack of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, Safina demonstrates how self-awareness and human emotions _ joy, grief, jealousy, anger and love _ are also part of animal life.
'A BEAUTIFUL QUESTION: FINDING NATURE'S DEEP DESIGN' by Frank Wilczek, Penguin, 448 pages, $18
Wilczek, a Nobel laureate for his pioneering work in quantum physics, guides readers through an illustrated series of discoveries from Plato and Pythagoras to Newton and Einstein. Wilczek looks at the aesthetic structures in nature _ what makes it so beautiful _ and explains how the same combination of atoms and light responsible for the geometric symmetries of nature can also be found at the root of every symmetry in the universe, including music harmony.
'RISE OF THE ROBOTS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE THREAT OF A JOBLESS FUTURE' by Martin Ford, Basic Books, 368 pages, $16.99
Ford, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, examines the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the impending possibility of machines taking over both blue- and white-collar jobs. Since society has yet to find a way of avoiding this imminent threat, Fords warns that the consequences will be devastating for humans: massive unemployment as well as economic insecurity.
'THE RUNAWAY WIFE: A NOVEL' by Elizabeth Birkelund, Harper, 256 pages, $15.99
When a French woman named Calliope goes missing in the Swiss Alps, her three daughters, Clio, Thalia and Helene Castellane, turn to Jim Olsen, an American hiker. The rescue mission turns out to be much more complicated. As he struggles with his attraction for her daughters, Jim realizes the woman _ who came to the Alps to escape her politician husband's most recent scandal _ might actually want to stay hidden.
'ATOMS UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS: THE SURPRISING SCIENCE HIDDEN IN YOUR HOME' by Chris Woodford, Bloomsbury Sigma, 336 pages, $17
Woodford looks at the science behind household phenomena like squeaky floorboards, rubbery custard or shiny shoes, as well as everyday objects such as buildings. Each chapter offers fun, comprehensive facts about how things work the way they do. Two of the topics Woodford tackles are hard to grasp for both children and adults: why skyscrapers can withstand gusty winds and how bicycle wheels don't collapse under a person's weight.
